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What’s your online sign, baby?

Posted in Digital, Creative, Branwell Johnson, Latest reporters' blogs May 8th, 2008 by Branwell Johnson

Everyone has a social network online profile unless they are deviant and prefer perverse activities such as going outside for a walk or meeting people in a pub. But did you know that denizens of groups on Facebook, MySpace and the millions of niche social sites have allotted roles?

Me neither until I heard a talk by Charles Wells of Kinship Networking at a recent PPA event. But now it all makes sense. His company has delved deep to figure out how people act online – see if you recognise yourself in any of the seven categories.

Apparently there are Influencers (those who want to be cool and show cutting edge taste in music, fashion etc), Connectors (those people who build up hundreds of friends online), Fixers (people who test out social networks and give feedback on problems), Visionaries (those who develop new applications), Gate Keepers (people who control the membership of a group), Enforcers (the law deciders for the group) and Truth Tellers (reliable information providers).

Apparently the most valuable to anyone launching a site are the Fixers because they’ll spot the problems and alert the site for free. Sadly they only make up 4.5 per cent of any social network.

Of course, this could all be smoke and mirrors to help web companies continue to create a mystique about social communities and to baffle paranoid clients who feel out of touch with the online world. Where is Neo when you need him?